The Northeast India Federation of Journalists (NIFJ) has called upon journalists of North East to unite and confront the challenges faced by media persons in the region. It also demanded that all State governments of the North East Region (NER) and their agencies concerned must "ensure the safety and security of journalists in their respective states besides immediate implementation of the statutory Wage Board award".

The third conference of the Northeast India Federation of Journalists (NIFJ), an umbrella organization of mostly IJU affiliated journalists’ unions of the Northeast and Gorkhaland Territorial Council (GTC), was held on 12 May, 2018 at Itanagar, hosted by Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ). Besides delegates from across the North Eastern States and the GTC, APUWJ members and prominent journalists attended the conference.  

In a resolution, the conclave noted that journalists in North East were facing many problems and threats from "the extremist groups, forest and drug mafia, intolerant politicians, bureaucrats and business community organizations." It also expressed great dismay over the 11 growing attacks on journalists in the "NE region by both state and non-state actors," effecting their safety and security and ultimately the "freedom of the Press and freedom of Expression."

The NIFJ urged upon State governments of the entire NER and their agencies concerned to ensure safety of all journalists and asked them to enact laws on the model of Maharashtra Journalists Safety Act on the safety and security and other relevant aspects of the profession.  The NIFJ urged upon the management of media houses to abide by the mandatory labour laws like issuance of appointment letters, provident fund, gratuity, leaves, due promotion etc.

It also asked the state governments to immediately constitute a tripartite committee for monitoring the implementation of the Wage Board recommendations. Further, the NIFJ expressed concern that the state governments in the region have "by and large not extended various essential facilities like pension, health insurance, housing, transportation etc to   journalists," unlike in other States.

"Since journalists of Northeast are working in hostile environment, risking their lives, insurance and compensation should be made mandatory," the resolution noted. In this connection, the Federation lauded the action of some NE states which have initiated pension schemes, for the journalists. Assam has pension scheme with Rs 8000 per month while Tripura is about to come up with a pension scheme of Rs 10,000 per month to the journalists, it pointed out. urging the government to increase the pension amount to Rs 15000 per month, the Federation also asked all States, which have yet to take up such pension schemes for journalists, to introduce the same "without further delay." It also urged upon the state governments of NE to enact amendments to the Working Journalists Act in line with Delhi government's recent amendment to the aforesaid Act.

The NIFJ further called upon the community organisations, ethnic bodies, students and youth organizations etc to respect the freedom of media and freedom of expression. In this regard, it appealed them to issue rejoinders to the media organizations concerned "in case they are aggrieved by any news item published/aired in the media." The Federation also urged the journalists and journalist organizations to follow media ethics and refrain from sensitive issues, "especially connected to border disputes, which may further disturb the peace and fraternal relationship between two NE states."  NIFJ also expressed grave concern over the move of the union Government to amend the Citizenship Act and called for scrapping the proposed amendment. It also welcomed the Meghalaya cabinet's decision of opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill and urged "all the other state governments to follow suit and oppose the Bill so as to safeguard the identity of its people.

"Conscience Keepers of society”

Addressing the inaugural session of the conclave as chief guest, Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh, Satya Gopal, while hailing the journalist fraternity of the Northeast Region as its brightest minds and the conscience keepers of the society besides being the protectors of democracy and freedom, hoped that the conclave would be a proper platform to reaffirm the vital role that a free press and free media plays in democracy by throwing light on all aspects of life. He also stated that the role of the media as a watchdog is becoming an important facet today, for fostering transparency, accountability, and dissemination of facts and information. The Chief Secretary, however, advised the journalists to be cautious of the risks of disinformation and of circulation of fake and concocted news.

Become Partners in Development

The IPR Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh, Sonam Chombey in his address called upon the scribes of the state in particular and north east in general to also focus on the brighter stories of the region. Highlighting the role of journalists in terms of the development of a state and region, Chombey appealed to the media fraternity to work hand-in-hand with the government to develop the state and the region.

Connect with rest of the country

IJU President S N Sinha called on the state governments in the North East to take stringent action against the media establishments who failed to implement the Wage Board scales to working journalists. He said as the journalists were fulfilling their social responsibility, it was duty of the governments to look after their welfare by extending free medical care, pension, free education for their children and other measures.

Sinha said the Indian Journalists union was taking special measures to organise the working journalists in the remote north eastern region and linking them to the journalists in the rest of the country.  "Our aim is to make sure that North East region is well connected with the rest of the country. If the journalists of this region are well connected with their brethren elsewhere in the country, the people of the region will be automatically connected," he said.

Referring to the difficult situation for the journalists in the region due to threats from state and non-state actors, he assured that the IJU would always stand by them and fight for them. He said the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) would also stand by them as IJU was affiliated to it.

APUWJ President Amar Sangno put forward the challenges faced by the journalists of the state. He highlighted that the interference in editorial discretions by various organizations by intimidating working journalists was one of the pressing problems the media in the state has been facing for years.

Sangno also stated that besides job insecurity, the working journalists in Arunachal were not extended various facilities like pension, medical insurance, etc that were extended by other state governments.

Other who attended  the conference included Arunachal Press Club President Chopa Cheda, General Secretary Tanom Jerang, Arunachal Electronic Media Association President Mukul Pathak and APUWJ General Secretary Ranju Dodum. The conference decided to form a gender council of NIFJ to encourage more women to join the profession of journalism and to look after the specific issues relating to women in the field of journalism. NIFJ also appointed Ms N N Manpoong as APUWJ State Gender Council convener to form a full-fledged Gender Council of APUWJ.

NIFJ New Team

President: Syed Sajjad Ali; Vice-Presidents: Amar Sangno, Asem Bhakta Singh; Secretary-General: Bedabrata Lakhar, Advisors: Geetartha Pathak and Thomas Alex; Treasurer: Sushmita

Pathak